Yale Symphony Orchestra Toshiyuki Shimada, Music Director 51st Season Opener Emily Switzer, Violin Saturday, October 1, 8PM Woolsey Hall, 500 College St.
program
Polonaise from Eugene Onegin Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto No. 1 Dmitri Shostakovich Emily Switzer, violin
Nocturne: Moderato Scherzo: Allegro Passacaglia: Andante Burlesque: Allegro con brio — Presto
Intermission
Symphony No. 2 Sergei Rachmaninoff Largo — Allegro moderato Allegro molto Adagio Allegro vivace
{Please silence all portable electronic devices}
about the artists
Toshiyuki Shimada, Music Director TOSHIYUKI SHIMADA is Music Director and Conductor of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra in New London; Music Director and Conductor of the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes; and has been Music Director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra of Yale University since 2005. He is also Music Director Laureate of the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Portland, Maine, for which he served as Music Director from 1986 to 2006. Prior to his Portland engagement he was Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra for six years. This season Maestro Shimada will continue to be active with his three orchestras, as well as his teaching duties at Yale University. He will also be guest conducting the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Photo by Harold Shapiro Orchestra in Istanbul, Turkey; and the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara, Turkey. Maestro Shimada has been a frequent guest conductor with a number of international orchestras, including the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara, the Izmir State Symphony Orchestra in Izmir, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius; La Orquesta Filharmónica de Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico; the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra; the Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad) Symphony Orchestra; the Prague Chamber Orchestra; the Slovak Philharmonic; NÖ Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna; L’Orchestre National de Lille in France; and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the Edinburgh Festival. He has also guest conducted the Houston Symphony, the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, the San José Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and many other US and Canadian orchestras. He has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Andre Watts, Peter Serkin, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Idil Biret, Peter Frankl, Janos Starker, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Nadjia SalernoSonnenberg, Cho-Liang Lin, Sir James Galway, Evelyn Glennie, and Barry
Tuckwell. In the Pops field he has performed with Doc Severinsen, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Marvin Hamlisch, and Toni Tennille. Maestro Shimada has had the good fortune to study with many distinguished conductors of the past and the present, including Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Herbert Blomstedt, Hans Swarovsky, and Michael Tilson Thomas. He was a finalist in the 1979 Herbert von Karajan conducting competition in Berlin, and a Fellow Conductor in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute in 1983. In addition, he was named Ariel Musician of the Year in 2003 by Ariel Records, and received the ASCAP award in 1989. He graduated from California State University, Northridge, studying with David Whitwell and Lawrence Christianson, and attended the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, Austria. He records with the Vienna Modern Masters label, and currently has fifteen recordings with the label. He also records for Capstone Records, Querstand-VKJK (Germany), and Albany Records. His recording of Gregory Hutter’s Skyscrapers and his Hindemith CD project with pianist Idil Biret have been released through the Naxos label. His Music from the Vatican with the Prague Chamber Orchestra and Chorus is available through iTunes and Rhapsody. Maestro Shimada holds a teaching position at Yale University, as Associate Professor of Conducting with Yale School of Music and Department of Music. He has a strong commitment to music education, and has been a faculty member of Rice University, Houston, Texas; the University of Southern Maine; and served as Artist Faculty at the Houston Institute of Aesthetic Study. He resides in Connecticut with his wife, concert pianist Eva Virsik.
Emily Switzer, Violin Emily Switzer, 21, a native of Denver, Colorado, is a senior majoring in English literature at Yale University. Co-concertmaster of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, she was a winner of the 2015 Friends of Music Recital Competition, the 2016 William Waite Concerto Competition, and was a recipient of the 2016 Sharp Prize for Music. Ms. Switzer has performed concertos by Bruch, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Sibelius with numerous orchestras including the Lakewood Symphony, Denver Philharmonic, and Littleton Symphony. In 2013 she was featured on National Public Radio’s From the Top, performing Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.
Currently a student of Wendy Sharp, Ms. Switzer began her studies with Jacqueline Maurer and has studied with James Maurer and Robin Sharp. A three-term member of the Young Musicians Foundation of Colorado artists roster, she has spent the past two summers at Music Academy of the West, where she studied with Alexander Treger, Kathleen Winkler, Jorja Fleezanis, and Glenn Dicterow. As a member of Music Academy’s String Leadership Program, led by Mr. Dicterow, she served as concertmaster of the Academy Festival Orchestra under Larry Rachleff. She also participated in the String Quartet Seminar, studying works by Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, and Handel under the tutelage of Peter Salaff and the Takács String Quartet. In January of 2017, she will perform with the New York Philharmonic as part of their Global Academy program, a 10-day immersive residency in partnership with Music Academy of the West.
notes on the program
Polonaise from Eugene Onegin Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin, considered by many to be Tchaikovsky’s greatest opera, was composed between 1877 and 1878 and first premiered in March of 1879. Tchaikovsky drew inspiration from Alexander Pushkin’s novel of the same name, and embedded many elements of its tragic story into his opera. The novel and opera follow a young woman, Tatiana, and Onegin, a charismatic visitor from St. Petersburg with whom she falls in love. After Tatiana confesses her love for him, however, she receives a cold rejection. Years later, Onegin finds himself in Prince Gremin’s palace in St. Petersburg, where he confronts Tatiana, now Princess Gremin, pleading that she marry him and they escape together. The opera concludes with Tatiana declining
his request and Onegin filled with regret. At the time of this work’s composing, Tchaikovsky found himself caught in a situation that drew parallels with the plot of Eugene Onegin, influencing the work just as the work influenced him. He received a letter from his former student, who confessed her love for him and revealed her hopes for marriage. Tchaikovsky was left confused and ambivalent, feeling simultaneously compelled to decline her offer but also fearful he would make a mistake similar to that of Onegin. In the end, fear for missing his chance won over, and Tchaikovsky married her in July 1877. Tragically quickly, Tchaikovsky came to regret the marriage. He travelled to Western Europe, leaving behind his wife and overcome with grief. Here, he completed both his 4th symphony and the opera. The Polonaise differs considerably in tone from the driving plot of the opera, however, and opens the Third and final Act of the opera. We find ourselves at an extravagant ball in Prince Gremin’s home. A jubilant trumpet fanfare leads into a lively dance with a rapid, dotted rhythmic motif in the strings. The woodwinds sing together in a lighter, more reserved middle section, with a deeper and darker cello melody before the woodwinds chime back in. The rest of the strings rejoin, bringing a surge of energy with them. The Polonaise returns to the melodies of the opening dance and concludes on a sustained, triumphant chord. Andrew Zhang ’20
Violin Concerto No. 1 Dmitri Shostakovich For much of the twentieth century, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was considered more important for the crushing political oppression under which he composed than for the actual music bearing his name, an attitude which has faced extensive revision in recent decades. The locus of much controversy and outcry has been Shostakovich’s political stance beneath the Communist regime of the Soviet Union--a stance which remains unknown to this day. It was common in earlier years to tout the composer as a radical who concealed anti-Stalinist messages in his music and to read works such as the Fifth Symphony as coded attacks on the regime, but there is no hard evidence that this was the case and, as recent scholars have pointed out, it is unlikely that Shostakovich could have written music that, to the ears of the people, was so obviously derisive of the government and lived. The
greatest elevation of this radical image came with the 1979 publication of Shostakovich’s “memoirs” by the Russian musicologist Solomon Volkov. Purported to be the composer’s words as related to Volkov in his final years, the memoirs reveal a radical thinker who was tormented whenever the need to appear loyal to the regime arose and who secretly fought Soviet doctrine through his music. While the memoirs created a major splash upon their release, they were quickly revealed as an almost certain forgery, with no evidence that the composer had ever even read them. What is certain, however, is that Shostakovich underwent great persecution and torment at the hands of the Soviet regime, characterized by the 1936 denunciation of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsenk District as “formalist” in style and inappropriate in subject matter--a public humiliation and condemnation that caused the composer to fear for his life--and a second period of denunciation in 1948, culminating in Shostakovich’s tormented 1960 decision to join the Communist party. The Violin Concerto No. 1 was composed in 1947-48 for the violinist David Oistrakh, a long-time artistic collaborator of Shostakovich’s who premièred, often with his quartet, many of the composer’s works. Because of the condemnation of Shostakovich and other leading Soviet composers by Andrei Zhdanov at a conference convened by the Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1948, the Concerto could not be immediately performed, although Shostakovich continued to work on the third movement throughout the ordeal (he underwent daily interrogation with Zhdanov for some time). The work underwent extensive revision by composer and violinist (Oistrakh requested a break for the soloist before the finale) until its successful première on October 29, 1955. Oistrakh himself characterized the first movement, Nocturne, as “a suppression of feeling,” and the second, Scherzo, as “demoniac.” The second movement also features conspicuously “Jewish” inflections, reflecting Shostakovich’s aversion to the anti-Semitism with which he was surrounded; his song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry was premièred the same year. The third movement is a slow Passacaglia, reminiscent of the important passacaglia theme from Lady Macbeth (he used the form to express serious emotions), Shostakovich’s condemned opera from decades before. The final movement, Burlesque, contains a transformed, canonic echo of the passacaglia theme, bringing the grave idea to a frantic conclusion. Esther Morgan-Ellis PhD ’12
Symphony No. 2 Sergei Rachmaninoff “I finished [the Second Symphony] a month ago and immediately put it aside. I am heartily sick of it and I’m not going to think about it any more.” These words, contained in a letter from Rachmaninoff in February 1907, give some indication of the troubled birth pangs of his second symphony. Some, but not all; in fact he was still far from completing the composition, which, at that stage, was no more than a draft laid out in short score. The orchestration was begun later that summer, but progress was painstakingly slow at times, and it was not until shortly before its premiere on January 26, 1908 that the task was finally completed. That the work caused Rachmaninoff so many problems seems incongruous in the light of its apparent spontaneity and wealth of melodic expression. Yet the predominant lyricism belies a thorough working out of motivic detail, frequently in the form of quite intricate contrapuntal textures. The step-wise phrase in the cellos and basses which opens the lugubrious introduction serves as the basis for much of the rest of the symphony, in the form of subtle transformations and melodic extensions. It certainly exerts a considerable influence over the principal theme of the ensuing Allegro moderato, a movement of sombre passions punctuated by stretches of expressive warmth. The second movement, Allegro molto, is a brilliant scherzo in duple meter, in which the trio transforms itself from a whirlwind fugato into a delicate march for brass band. The symphony’s emotional core, however, is contained in the Adagio. The long-breathed clarinet solo which opens the movement represents Rachmaninoff s melodic invention at its most inspired. A contrasting central episode develops to an impassioned climax before the violins recall the clarinet melody, now decorated by the little melodic arch which appeared at the outset. The movement ends warmly and serenely in the lower strings. By contrast the Finale bubbles over with irrepressible energy and high spirits, characterized by a rollicking triplet figure. The grand, sweeping nature of the second theme offers appropriate respite, but the brilliance and overwhelming rhythmical drive of the opening eventually prevail to carry the symphony through to a jubilant conclusion. Alasdair Neale
Yale Symphony Orchestra Toshiyuki Shimada, Music Director Brian Robinson, Managing Director Elias Brown, Assistant Conductor Ian Niederhoffer, Assistant Conductor
President Cindy Xue Librarians Emily Switzer, Head Librarian Shiori Tomatsu Dennis Zhao Publicity Noah Stevens-Stein Jacob Sweet Stephen Tang Social Jessie Li Arvind Venkataraman Alumni Annabel Chyung Amanda Vosburgh Stage Crew Jacob Sweet, Manager Henry Shapard Cindy Xue Caroline Zhao Poster Design Isaac Morrier
First Violin Cameron Daly, Co-Concertmaster Annabel Chyung, Asst. Principal Ana Barrett Albert Cao Julia Carabatsos Jennifer Cha Miriam Gerber Yumi Koga Jessie Li James Lin Kay Nakazawa Serena Shapard Stephen Tang Andrew Zhang
Second Violin Evan Pasternak, Principal Alex Wang, Asst. Principal Vanessa Ague Madeleine Bauer Hannah Lawrence John McKissack Taishi Nojima Eileen Norris Rita Rangchaikul Jasmine Stone Alice Tao Margo Williams Cindy Xue Julia Zhu Viola Abigail Elder, Co-Principal Sarah Switzer, Co-Principal Ella Belina Sonali Durham Ethan Gacek George Gemelas Wei Li Linus Lu Ian Niederhoffer Grant Young
Violoncello Harry Doernberg, Co-Principal Amanda Vosburgh, Co-Principal Sofia Checa Kimberly Lai Paul Lee Henry Shapard Robert Wharton Contrabass Connor Reed, Principal Aedan Lombardo Spencer Parish Noah Stevens-Stein Arvind Venkataraman Flute /Piccolo Michelle Peters Co-Principal Shiori Tomatsu, Co-Principal Monica Barbosa Beatrice Brown Oboe Collum Freedman, Principal Lauren McNeel Co-Principal Laura Michael English Horn Jake Houston Clarinet Jacob Sweet, Principal Allen Chang Dennis Zhao
Bassoon Daniel Henick, Principal Dennis Brookner Cooper Sullivan French Horn Leah Meyer, Principal Morgan Jackson Mary Martin Nishwant Swami Trumpet Elias Brown, Principal Joseph Blumberg Ryan Petersberg Trombone Alexander Walden Hillary Simms Bass Trombone Eliud Garcia Tuba Steven Lewis, Principal Harp Caroline Zhao, Principal Kai-Lan Olson Celesta Thomas Shen Timpani and Percussion Adrian Lin, Principal Charles Comiter Sean Guo Ephraim Sutherland
About the Orchestra Founded in 1965 by a group of students who saw the growing potential for a large ensemble to thrive on campus, the Yale Symphony Orchestra has become one of the premier undergraduate ensembles in the United States. The largest orchestra in Yale College, the YSO provides a means for students to perform orchestral music at a conservatory level while taking advantage of all Yale, as a liberal-arts institution, has to offer. The YSO boasts and impressive number of alumni who have gone on to successful musical careers, but for a conservatory-level musician seeking a strong liberal arts or STEM education, we are one of the few – if not the only – opportunity for a talented orchestra musician to maintain the trajectory of their musical studies in a non-conservatory environment. As a result, most of YSO musicians are non-music majors. That said, the YSO numbers among its alumni members of the New York Philharmonic (Sharon Yamada, 1st violin), the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Haldan Martinson, principal 2nd violin, and Owen Young, cello), the Los Angeles Philharmonic (David Howard, clarinet), the San Francisco Symphony (the late William Bennett, oboe), Philadelphia Orchestra (Jonathan Beiler, vioin), Toronto Symphony (Harry Sargous, oboe, ret.) and the Israel Philharmonic (Miriam Hartman, viola), as well as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, National Public Radio commentator Miles Hoffman, composers, Michael Gore, Robert Beaser, Conrad Cummings, Stephen Paul Hartke, Robert Kyr, and more. Although the YSO is an extracurricular ensemble within a liberal arts university, its reputation and output rival those of conservatories worldwide. Throughout its history the YSO has been committed to commissioning and performing new music. Notably, the YSO presented the European premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass in 1973, the world premiere of the definitive restoration of Charles
Photo by Harold Shapiro
Ives’ Three Places in New England, the U.S. premiere of Debussy’s Khamma, and the East Coast premiere of Benjamin Britten’s The Building of the House. In every season the YSO works to program and perform orchestral works written by new and emerging composers, as well as lesser-heard works by established and obscure composers. The YSO has performed with internationally recognized soloists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Frederica von Stade, Emmanuel Ax, David Shifrin, Thomas Murray, and Idil Biret. Each year the YSO is proud to present student winners of the William Waite Concerto Competition the opportunity to perform major solo works alongside the orchestra. Outside New Haven’s Woolsey Hall, the YSO have performed at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In 2011, the YSO joined the Yale Glee Club at Carnegie Hall in celebration of their 150th anniversary, and was hailed by New York Times music critic Zachary Woolfe as “the excellent Yale Symphony Orchestra.” Under the baton of music director Toshiyuki Shimada, the YSO has toured domestically and internationally, including a 2010 tour of Turkey with acclaimed pianist Idil Biret. Ms. Biret rejoined the orchestra for a recording of Paul Hindemith’s piano concerti, which were released in 2013 on the Naxos label. Past tours have brought the orchestra to Portugal, Korea, Central Europe, Italy, and most recently Brazil. Beyond its season concerts, the YSO is famous for its legendary Halloween Show, a student-directed and -produced silent movie, whose score the orchestra performs at midnight in full costume. Long a Yale tradition, the Halloween Show sells out Woolsey Hall days in advance, and the production remains a closely guarded secret until the night of performance; recent cameo appearances include James Franco, Woody Allen, Alanis Morisette, Rosa DeLauro, and Jimmy Kimmel. Former music directors include Richmond Browne, John Mauceri, C. William Harwood, Robert Kapilow, Leif Bjaland, Alasdair Neale, David Stern, James Ross, James Sinclair, Shinik Hahm, and George Rothman.
The Yale Symphony Orchestra would like to thank the following for their support: $5,000 or more The William Bray Fund for Music Yale Symphony Orchestra Director’s Resource Fund Dr. David Lobdell Dr. Robert Perkel ’72 Mary and Richard Radcliffe Dr. Jennifer Shin ’99
$1,000—4,999 Lee A. Chaden Shelby L. Chaden Daniel B. Feller, M.D. ’74 Dr. Elizabeth Petri Henske ’81 Mr. Robert C. Henske ’81 Ms. Bee-Seon Keum ’06 B.A., ’06 Mus.M. Mr. Jonathan Lewis Mr. D. Scott Wise ’74
$500—999 Barbara Doyle Mr. Charles D. Ellis ’59 B.A., ’97 M.A.H. Mr. Paul J. Gacek ’67 B.A., ’70 Mus Mrs. Alfred Loeffler Jonathan Lewis Ms. Linda Koch Lorimer ’77 J.D. Mr. Benjamin I. Nathans ’84 Mr. Jonathan J. Taylor ’74 Kara Unterberg George Yanagisawa
$100—499 John Carlson Richard Dumas Prof. Edwin M. Duval ’71 M.Phil.,’73 Ph.D. Professor Judith L. Elder ’77 LLM, ’79 JSD
James M. Ford, M.D. ’84 B.A., ’89 M.D. Sarah Fortier Mr. Paul J. Gacek ’67 B.A., ’70 Mus Ms. Pamela J. Gray ’74 B.A. Miwa Hashimoto Mr. Vincent Chi-Chien Hou ’99 Mr. David A. Ifkovic Mr. John W. Karrel ’75 Mr. Steven M. Kaufman ’81 Mrs. Beth Kaufman Ms. Alison Melick Kruse ’82 Mr. Parker R. Liautaud ’16 Tania Moore-Barrett Dr. Natalia Neparidze Ms. Isabel Padien O’Meara ’99 Mr. James R. Potochny ’86 Mr. Robert Reed Donald Redmond Mr. John Y. Rhee Mr. Charles Michael Sharzer ’12 Zeyu Shen ’22 GRD Dr. Richard M. Siegel ’85 Mr. & Ms. Andrew F. Veitch Joann & George Vosburgh Mr. Nathaniel O. Wallace ’69 GRD Rosemary Wharton
$10—$99 Daria Ague Stephanie Block Jason Brooks Charles Crane Joseph Crosson ’16 Isabel Detherage ’20 Edward Dietrich Ms. Dierdre H. Donaldson ’74 Vic Dvorak Abigail Elder ’18 Dr. James Freeman Alvin Gao ’17
Yafeng Gao ’16 Nicholas Gerard John Gordon Jeremy Grice Ariela Gugenheim Richard W. Hadsell, Ph.D ’71 M.Phil, ’75 Ph.D. Yoojin Han ’19 Timothy Harkness Seth Herschkowitz ’20 Fred Isbell ’82 Michel Jackson Benjamin Jacobs ’17 Heidi Katter ’20 Jospeh Lanzone ’18 Juri Lee SOM ’17 Judith Lichtin Erika Lynn-Green ’18 Raul Madriz Cano SOM ’16 Yasat Berk Manav ’18 Elizabeth Maurer Sarah McCormack James McDonald Audrey Meusel Bethann Mohamed Jack Mulrow ’16 Jacob Neis ’17 Nikita Neklyudov Robert Newhouse ’19 Alison Nordell ’18
Sanka Perera Holger Petermann GRD ’18 Lavinia Ptrache Alexander Posner ’18 Bradford Purcell David Rainey Ernesto Reyes SOM ’16 Henry Robinson ’19 John Roethle ’17 Charles Romano ’19 Jane Soetiono SOM ’16 Sara Speller ’19 James Stedronsky Victoria Yu-Than Su ’96 William Sullivan ’20 Lei Sun SOM ’17 Dawn Tamarkin Deniz Tanyolac ’18 Anthony Tokman ’16 Charlotte Van Voorhis ’20 Erica Wachs ’18 Francesca Wang ’17 Martin Weil ’77 Qiwei Claire Xue ’14 Cindy Yang ’19 Yvonne Ye ’19 Lawrence Young Gale Zadoff
Tax-deductible contributions to the Yale Symphony Orchestra make up a significant part of our total operating budget. Your donations are vital to us, and are very much appreciated. Please consider making a donation to the Yale Symphony Orchestra. Yale Symphony Orchestra c/o Yale University Office of Development—Contributions Processing P.O. Box 2038 New Haven, CT 06521-2038 http://yso.yalecollege.yale.edu/support-us
Concerts 2016–2017
October 8, 2016 7:30pm in Woolsey Hall Family Weekend Concert Florence Price
Symphony No. 3 (East Coast Premiere)
November 12, 2016 8pm in Woolsey Hall Andreas Stoehr, Guest Conductor Janna Baty, Mezzo-Soprano Ludwig van Beethoven Alban Berg Johannes Brahms
Overture to Coriolan Seven Early Songs Symphony No. 2
February 11, 2017 8pm in Woolsey Hall Yale Glee Club, Jeffrey Douma, Music Director Yale Camerata, Marguerite Brooks, Music Director Arnold Schoenberg
Verklarte Nacht
Elias Brown, guest conductor
Carl Orff
Carmina Burana
April 1, 2017 8pm in Woolsey Hall Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater Leonard Bernstein
West Side Story
April 22, 2016 8pm in Woolsey Hall Robert Blocker and Eva Virsik, Piano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Gustav Mahler
Piano Concerto No. 10 Symphony No. 5
$12/$17 General Admission | $3/$6 Student To purchase tickets, visit www.yalesymphony.com
For more information about the YSO, visit yalesymphony.com For live recordings of the YSO, visit yalesymphonyorchestra.bandcamp.com For videos of past YSO events and concerts, visit youtube.com/yalesymphony We’re also on Facebook and Twitter: facebook.com/yalesymphony twitter.com/yalesymphony